Improvement in telegraph repeating instruments



W; G. BROWNSON 8v D. C. SHULL.

TELEGRAPH REPEATING INSTRUMENT.

Patented July 23, 1867.

\NQR an.

Ayn

'3 i a g I q, i e

mtzh .tstcs gaunt ffrrr.

' WALTER e. BROWNSON AND DANIEL (J. SHULL, or WELLSVILLE, OHIO.

Letters Patent No.'66,945, dated July 23, 1867.

.fltt: some refemh to in time 32mm hated not making not of 11;: time.

T O ALL WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:

I Be it kiiown that we, WALTER G. B'nownsos and DANIEL 0. SKULL, ofWellsville, Columbiana county, State of Ohio, have invented certain newand useful Improvements in the Construction of Telegraphic RepeatingInstruments; and we do hereby declare the following to be a full andexact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanyingdiagram and drawings, illustrating the same, in which- Figure 1 is adiagram illustrating the connections and operation of our improvedrepeaters.

Figure 2, a plan view of our repeater, and

Figure 3 a-side elevation thereof.

Similar letters indicate like parts in each of the figures.

Our invention consists, first, in combining the main wire of any onetelegraph line entering an oflice with the armature-lever of therepeating sounder of any other line therein,'(for instance linewest withsounder of line east,) in such a manner that the vibration of saidsounder-lever, under the influence of'signal-currents from its own lineeast, shall connect and disconnect the main-line wire west to or from aground-wire, and by thus closing and opening said main west line, causea repetition of the east signals through the same; second, in keepingthe west line sounder closed, (while east is working as just described,)by closing its local circuit when its relay is open, throughcut-oilwires attached to the local circuit wires between said sounderand relay, combined with connecting points on the east sounder-lever, insuch manner as to he closed thereby whenever east line is open, and viceversa; and third, in maintaining a continuous connection of the localcircuit, either through the relay'or the cut-0d wires, bythe use ofspring connections between the ends of the cut-ofi' wires, and betweenthe main-line wire and ground-wire at the Lp'erating sounder.

Similar combinations are made, both of west sounder with east line andof east sounder with west line, in

the manner hereinafter more particularly described, so that east mayrepeat west or west east, at ,leasure, the

'sound'r of the onetline being kept closed, by the action of its ownlocal circuit, whilst the other l ne is'open.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use our, invention, wewill proceed to descrihe'its construction and operation. I

Our improvements are readily applied to the ordinary forms oftelegraphic repeaters or sonnders; A, in the accompanying drawings,representing such a repeater, having its magnet B connected-withanysuitable relay 0 and local battery D, as is customary in the presentp .i arrangements of telegraphic apparatus. We give to the sounder-postE, of the repeater A, a ground-w connection, and to anysuitable portionof this post, below the sounder-lever a, we secure 'a. straight-or b'en.spring, e, an interval being left between the upper edge of the springand said lever. Through apertures in the lever a we insert and securetwo metallic pins or strips c c, whichare, however, carefully andcompletely insulated from said lever by'the use of any suitableinsulating material. One of'these pins, 0', is of such length and is soplaced as that when the sounder dis closed or drawn down by the actionof its magnet B, the lower end of the pin shall bear down upon thespring e of post E, but when the lever is open or released from itsmagnet B, and raised by its spring 6, (fig. 3,) the contact between thepin '5' and spring e will be broken. In a line between sounder-post Eand'the sounder-magnet B, we place two insulated binding or thumb-screwposts F F on either side of the vertical plane, in which sounder-lever avibrates. To the top of one of these posts, F, is secured a horizontalelastic strip, 8, extending across to near the top of the other post, F,and which, byits elasticity, is kept constantly in contact with a smallplate,f, projecting therefrom, unless borne down by pressure. Thiselastic strip} or spring-plate 8 may be straight or curved, at pleasure.The second pin 0, also inserted through but insulated from lever a, or,if simply projecting from the lever, provided with an insulated tip orpoint, is of such a length as that when the lever is drawn down by theaction of its magnet this pin shall bear down upon'the spring-piece andbreak itscontactwith the plate or post F. The point d of the upperadjusting-screw D of tho'lcvera is insulated, to .prevent a connectionwith post E when lever is open. To the upper end of pin 0 we attach themain line wire of any other line (say the-west line) in the ollice,after it has passed its relay C, so that when sounder a is closed bysignal from its line, (the east line in this instance,) a groundconnection is made for the west main-line through pin c, spring e, andpost E, this connection being broken when sounder is open, as

shown in diagram, fig 1. To the sounder-post F we connect a cut-offwire, it, which is also attached to one of the wires extending from thelocal battery to the sounder-magnet and relay of the second (or west)line, at a point between the relay and sounder-magnet, fig. 1. To thepost F we connect a second cut-off wire, k, which is also attached tothe other wire of the local circuit of the second line' a t a pointbetween its local battery and relay, (fig. 1.) Hencewhen the eastsounder-lever a is open. the local circuit of west line is kept closed,through thesecut-ofi' wires k k,.by means of posts F and F and itstransverse spring a, as illustrated .in the diagram. fig. 1, .of theaccompanying drawings. In said diagram we haveillustrated, inconnectionwith sounder-lever a of west line, another form of arrangement by whichone pin 0' through said lever is made to connect by its movements theeast -main line with a ground wire, and the second pin 0" opens andcloses the local circuit operating east sounder. Instead of making inthis arrangements. ground-connection through the sounder-post E, thispost is connected with one of the cut-ofi' wires Ic from east localcircuit, and a spring, to, projecting from its upper end, is so arrnngidas to be in contact with and bear down upon the insulated pin a in thelever whilst said lever is open, so that the east local circuit throughthe cut-off wires k k is closed thereby whenever the lever is open, h utopened whenever the lever is drawn down by the action of its magnet. Inthis case ground connection is obtained for the east main-line wire.through the secondpoint 0'! of lever, by means of aseparateground-connecting post, G, placed under the pin. its upper endbeing'p'rovided with a spring, e, through which the connection betweenpin and post is established when the lever isdrawn down. We prefer,however, the form of arrangement illustrated in figs. 2 and 3 and firstdescribed, and to make in all cases the repeaters for all the linesalike.

The operation of our improved repeater is simple and effective. Witheast lineopen, a signal from east acting through its relay.C uponsounder-magnet B, will close the sounder-lever a, thus bringing pin 0,attached to main line west, into contact with spring 6 of post E, havingadirect ground connection. By thus closing wes t' line, the signal fromeast is repeated west. In the mean time west sounder A is kept closed bythe action of local battery on magnet B, the local circuit beingcompleted or closed, first, when east sounder is open through cut-offwires k k by contact of spring 3 from post F, (to which one wire isattached,; with platef of'post F, to l which the other is secured; andsecond, when said east sounder is closed, and consequently the circuitthrough cut-off wires 70 broken by pressure of 0 upon connecting-springs, breaking contact of s with'plate'f, then through the west relay C,which is made to close the locsl'circuit by the very signal which breaksits connection through said cut-off wires k it. As the point e, by whichthe west line is opened, touches the spring e, l and thus closes thewest local circuit through relay C before point 0 breaks the connectionthrough spring 8 and the cut-oil wires, the west sounder cannot openunlessa break is made by operator on the west line. The .operation ofthe several features of our improvement are-the same when west isrepeating east instead of. east west, as has just been described; thewest sounder or repeater in such case operating in the manner justspecified in relation to the movements of the east sounder. I t isevident that any two lines in an office may be thus connected throughsame repeaters by suitable switches, and by changing attachments ofwires to the points cc and posts E F F, (or E G,) &c., and wecontemplate such changes in the use and application of our invention.

Having thus fully described our invefitio'n, what we claim therein as"new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is- I i 1. The combinationof the'l ocahbattery circuit of any one of two main lines, in atelegraphic system, with therepeater of the other line, by means ofextra wires intercepting the local current between the soundermagnet andrelay of first line, and so arranged as that said local circuit may beclosed by the lever of the repeater when not closed by thearmature-lever of said relay, and vice versa, substantially in themanner and for the purpose herein set forth.

2. Metallic pins or rods passing through or secured to the sounder-leverof a telegraphic repeater, in combination with the wires of a localcircuit and a main line, and operating to open or close said line orcircuit by the movements of said lever, substantially in the manner andfor the purpose herein set forth.

3. The combination of a main-line wire with a pin or rod on thesounder-lever of a telegraphic repeater, and with a ground-connectingspring or wire, so placed, within reach of said pin, as to be in contacttherewith when the sounder is closed, substantially in the manner andfor thepurpose herein set forth.

4. We claim elastic plates, strips, or springs, e and s, (or e and w,)in combination with posts F. F and. ground-connecting post ,E, (or G,)and also, respectively, with insulated pins c'on.sounder A, andinsulated point on adjusting-screw o of sounder-post E, when so arrangedas that in the movements of thc sounder the contact of one point withits corresponding spring shall not be broken until contact isestablished between the second point and its spring, substantially inthe manner and for the purpose herein'set forth.

The foregoing specification of our-improvemcnt in" telegraphic repeaterssigned by us this sixth day of April, A. D. 1867.

' W. G'. BROWNSON,

D. C. SHULL.

Witnesses:

JNO. THOMAS, F. A. SANDERS.

